§ Mr. Duncan-SmithTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the additional cost to EAGGF guarantee spending of the Breydel agreement.
§ Mr. JackThe Breydel agreement concluded between the EU and the United States in the closing stages of negotiations on the Uruguay round agreement allows for greater flexibility in the phasing of cuts in subsidised agricultural exports over the period of the agreement's implementation. As a result, there will be an increased 819W possibility of the export of wheat and wheat flour, cheese, beef, pigmeat, poultrymeat, wine, raw tobacco and incorporated foods between 1995 and 2000.
It is not possible, however, to estimate the precise cost to EAGGF guarantee since the cost of increased expenditure on export subsidies would, in the absence of the Breydel agreement, have had to be offset by some increase in expenditure on intervention or subsidised internal disposal for some of the commodities and quantities involved. In that the Breydel agreement opened the way for the successful conclusion of the Uruguay round it also avoided the very heavy budgetary costs which would have followed from the failure of the round.